Using Personal Testimonials when Selling to Customers

To deliver a customer assurance that your business offering is good, provide your customers with testimonials and endorsements from other, satisfied customers. Testimonials, if they're genuine, can really sway consumers to your business.

When you share good words from past customers, prospective customers gain confidence that you have a good business track record, that you deliver on your promises, and that you stand by your products and services.

When obtaining and presenting customer testimonials, follow these tips:

Wait until purchase transactions are completed before asking a satisfied buyer if he or she would say a few words on behalf of your brand or company.

Encourage customers to provide frank comments. Even if the information isn’t suitable for a testimonial, it’s valuable when you refine your offering and brand experience.

Whether customers speak or write their comments, ask them to focus on the aspect of their buying experience that they found most compelling. Specific praise makes the buyer’s comments more believable to prospective customers.

Ask customers to include details about their experiences.

When obtaining written permission to use the testimonial, get identification information, including at least the customer’s first name and hometown.

When dealing with customer testimonials, avoid these mistakes:

Never offer cash, product, or favors in return for customer testimonials.

Don’t invent testimonials. They’re likely to sound phony (which they are), and the practice is unethical.

Don’t prompt customers to include marketing messages in their testimonials. Let them speak freely. You want to collect genuine opinions about how customers view the attributes and benefits of your offering and the experience of dealing with your organization.